Hello I'm appearing in magistrates court imminently because the now defunct First Capital Connect (FCC) are pursuing prosecution for a failure to produce a valid ticket at Finsbury Park station. I'm pragmatic about this and have attempted to settle with FCC without success, various parts of what happened leading up to the court date make little or no sense.. So here in brief. I travel once or twice monthly from and to Finsbury Park overground station. Travelled to Finsbury Park with valid ticket, exited train on newly built platform which had no ticket barriers unlike the other 4 platforms at the station. Discarded ticket because no barriers to put it in to, walked down two seperate flights of stairs to exit station, one FCC staff member at street entrance to station asks for ticket. I explain I discarded it and offer to go back and get it, staff refuses offer and says I cannot go back to get it. Staff asks for name and address which I give, he verifies it writes out missing ticket pad slip, I ask for copy of missing ticket pad slip, he declines to give me, I ask how can I pay, staff says they will post bill to me (no offer to allow me to pay there and then). FCC send court summons asking for any mitigating circumstances - I reply with above and ask them to check records of purchase for 1.5 hour period on day when I bought ticket, apologise profusely, make clear offer to meet their costs and pay for ticket to bring matter to a close. They write back asking me to contact them in light of my response to resolve matter. I email, telephone and write to the contact info given, after no response I start requesting they call email or write to me. I continue to try to make contact receiving no response for 6 weeks.. Get court summons 9 days before hearing asking court to award for £100 approx and cost of ticket £15 approx, I plead guilty by post outlining the above, apologising and pointing out I just don't want to waste anyones time. Court date passes, I receive letter from court stating they have adjourns matter to allow "prosecution to review", I've heard nothing from the prosecution (FCC ceased trading on 14th September this year) I contacted court to ask if hearing going ahead, they advised me yes and court staff said always best to attend, I will go because I want this matter to end, although I've already pleaded guilty by post and submitted mitigation with the guilty plea. I would laugh if it weren't for the fact this is serious and I respect the law, its stressed me for months and I'm going to court for the first time in my life - I'm no spring chicken. The date of birth on my summons is incorrect, I think this is irrelevant but am no solicitor. What I am keen to know is where the "compulsory ticket area" is at Finsbury Park station and most importantly could anyone give me any pointers on what I should do or say at court. As I've said I was happy enough to pay whatever to make FCC happy and still am, yet I have no means of contacting them since they don't respond to any normal channel and have now ceased to exist. I've been putting off looking at this but it's happening in a couple of days.. Any advice very welcome.

Hi, Anyone with insight on the small claims court procedure and taking a train operator to court of breach of contract would be appreciated. I bought two single tickets to London to attend an 02 concert I had booked months earlier. We set off on our journey in plenty of time to arrive at the 02, have a meal and attend the concert. After one stop, the service was suspended due to overhead wire problems. We waited and waited and eventually were told a bus was being put on to take us further down the line where trains were still running. By now time was becoming tight and I decided that waiting for the buses (during school bus times) would likely place us jeopardy to reach the 02 in time for the concert, and took a taxi to the downline station. We waited there for 30 mins with a sign indicvating that a train was due to arrive in 2 or 3 minutes. No trains arrived and the electronic signage simply rolled-over the 2 or 3 minute arrival time in every instance. I was eventually told by another passenger that this is programmed into the system (rolling over the arrival time of trains). After half an hour, an announcement came on the tannoy that all services were suspended. Now frantic, I chose to take a taxi to London King's Cross. It seemed to take for ever. We arrived at KC at 19:00 (having arrived at the original departure station at 15:30). I then jumped in another taxi for the 02 and arrived at 19:45 - after 4.25 hours of continuous journey (bar the waiting time at the various stations). We made the Concert in time. Just. The next day I wrote to Ist Capital Connect to claim a refund of my train fares (approx £50) and the taxi fares (I kept the receipts) of over £200. I also stated in that first letter that I didn't want a travel voucher but cash for the tickets. 1st Cap Connect wrote apologizing and enclosed two complimentary 1st Class tickets, not cash, and refused to pay the taxi fares as they had not agreed to them. I replied saying that I hadn't traveleed on the railways for years prior to this journey and in view of my what happened didn't intend to repeat the experience - and could I please have a cash refund for the tickets. I also noted that under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, and I entitled to claim exemplary costs to put right any breach of contract I suffer. The letters have gone backwards and forwards and the latest is that they have re-offered to return the complimentary rail tickets, but not to pay in cash or cover the cost of the taxis. My only choice now is to commence small claims court action. I will do this, but would appreciate any insights and advice anyone here can provide that assist my court case. Many thanks. SoS

I've just been running through my bank slips of the last financial year for confirmin self assessment amounts and noticed one payment to this company. Looking back through the year before there was a previous amount (about 60% of the total). Am I right in thinking this has something to do with the AA and their pet insurance that was about in 2010/2011 ? If so I do not recall anything involving automatic renewals, certainly it's not somethng I would need either as our cat wandered off in February 2010 an hasn't been seen since.

I was hoping someone could advise me. Apologies in advance if I'm posting this thread in the wrong place, I'm new to the site and can't see another way of starting a new thread. My husband was caught filling out a date on his First Capital Connect carnet when the inspector came to check tickets. When the inspector took it off him presumably as 'evidence' it was correctly dated. He is new to the system and simply forgot to fill it in - he had no intention of re-using it in fact his route would make this impossible in any case. In preparation for the potential prosecution letter I have a few questions which I was hoping someone could advise on, 1. Can a carnet ticket physically be used again after they have been through both the station entry and exit barriers once a journey is complete? Surely the machine renders them 'used'? 2. Can an inspector offer a penalty fare and once it is accepted by the passenger withdraw the option? 3. On serving of a MG11 form, does the inspector have to specifically tell the passenger what the MG11 is exactly before reading out any rights? 4. Does the inspector have to show the passenger the details he has included in the MG11 form at the time of filling it in? 5. Does the passenger have to sign the MG11 form at the time? 6. Is there any scope in complaining about the carnet system, which effectively has no way of accounting for human error? Any help and advice would be appreciated. I can see a lot of posts on this so I'm hoping there are some experienced people out their willing to share their wisdom.

There seems to be a lot of this about at the moment it seems and here's another. My husband has received a notice of intention to prosecute. It states 'this letter is to inform you of our intention to take this case to the Magistrates Court and the enclosed form provides you with the opportunity to tell us what happened from your point of view' The details of the offence states 'entering a train for the purpose of travelling without a ticket entitling travel'. My husband was travelling from London Bridge to St Albans with a valid carnet ticket. The barriers were open at London Bridge and he forgot to write the date on the ticket. He met a friend on the train and made it to the barrier and the ticket wouldn't go through and then he realised that he had forgotten the date so he entered it. As he was doing so a revenue protection officer stopped him and cautioned him, and took the ticket from him, giving him a slip of paper. Can anyone provide advice as to what to write in the Response from Passenger section?